Do structured risk assessments predict violent, any, and sexual offending better than unstructured judgment? An umbrella review.
Although it is widely believed that risk assessment tools lead to more accurate estimates of risk of violence and offending than unstructured clinical judgments, the nature and quality of evidence that supports this view is unclear. As such, we conducted an umbrella review of systematic reviews. Through a search of 15 databases, we identified nine systematic reviews, including six meta-analyses and three narrative systematic reviews, that compared unstructured and structured risk judgments for any, violent, and sexual offending. Each review was independently coded by two raters. Raters also coded the 46 primary studies on ...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - February 15, 2021 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
The public’s perception of crime control theater laws: It’s complicated.
Crime control theater (CCT) refers to laws that are widely supported by the public even though they are well-documented empirical failures in their effectiveness. Through a survey of a representative participant sample (N = 540), the present work examines 5 CCT laws (Amber Alerts, sex offender housing restriction laws, sex offender registry laws, safe haven laws, and three-strikes sentencing laws), comparing the public’s support and perceived effectiveness of these laws to five non crime control theater (NCCT) laws. Although CCT laws garnered more support and had greater perceived effectiveness than NCCT laws with a larg...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - January 28, 2021 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
COVID-19 and prison policies related to communication with family members.
This article describes changes to policies related to the contact incarcerated individuals could have with family members and others since the pandemic began. We also examine the clarity of the information presented to the public regarding COVID-19 testing and outbreaks in state prisons. The results show that DOCs quickly made free phone calls available to incarcerated individuals, although for how long this policy remained in place is unclear. The capacity for video visits during the pandemic was notably less; only 25 state DOCs had video visits in place before March 2020, and 16 of those reported adding free video visits...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - January 28, 2021 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
A test of three refresher modalities on child forensic interviewers’ posttraining performance.
This study aims to advance the field of child forensic interviewing by assessing the impact of different refresher training modalities on police officers’ abilities to adhere to the steps of an interview protocol and on the types of questions used. Previously trained police officers (N = 46) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (1) supervision with an expert, (2) peer group supervision, and (3) computer-assisted exercises on children’s investigative interview techniques. Comparison of interviews conducted before (n = 136) and after (n = 124) the refresher modalities revealed an improvement in...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - January 21, 2021 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Allegations of family violence in court: How parental alienation affects judicial outcomes.
Discussion focuses on the importance of using open science practices for transparent and rigorous empirical testing of hypotheses and the dangers of misusing scientific findings to mislead influential professionals who affect the well-being of millions of families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law)
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 14, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
The impact of misdemeanor arrests on forensic mental health services: A state-wide review of Virginia competence to stand trial evaluations.
Across the United States, court orders for competence to stand trial evaluations and competence restoration services have been increasing much more rapidly than many states can provide these services, prompting what has been called a national “competency crisis.” Though many factors contribute to this crisis, one that has received little attention is the potentially disproportionate role of misdemeanor arrests on competency services. Therefore, we reviewed a state-wide sample of court-ordered competence evaluation reports in Virginia (N = 1,126) to compare defendants facing only misdemeanor charges to defendants facing...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 7, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Juveniles in the interrogation room: Defense attorneys as a protective factor.
Juveniles are more susceptible in the interrogation room than adults, due to a host of factors that put them at risk. Scholars have suggested that requiring the presence of a defense attorney during interrogations can protect juveniles from making an unintelligent waiver; variations of this type of policy have been mandated in some states across the United States (e.g., Illinois and California). The current study takes an exploratory, qualitative approach to examine how defense attorneys may act as a protective factor in the interrogation room. We interviewed 19 juvenile defenders using a semistructured interview method; q...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 7, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Adherence to the Revised NICHD Protocol recommendations for conducting repeated supportive interviews is associated with the likelihood that children will allege abuse.
Because intensely reluctant children often fail to report being abused even when they are supportively interviewed, the Revised NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Protocol (RP) guides interviewers to delay discussion of sensitive topics and build rapport before scheduling a follow-up interview in which children might feel more comfortable. We sought to determine whether adherence to these recommendations was associated with the children’s propensity to make allegations. Repeated forensic interviews were conducted with 202 Israeli children aged 3–14 who did not make allegations in the first...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 7, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
"Making the case for videoconferencing and remote child custody evaluations (RCCEs): The empirical, ethical, and evidentiary arguments for accepting new technology." Correction to Dale and Smith (2020).
This article outlines the conceptual approach used by the child custody community for determining the foci of the evaluation, tailoring data collection via multiple methodologies, and analyzing the data. The article reviews the empirical literature demonstrating that professional relationships and various clinical and forensic processes have reliably and successfully used videoconferencing with adults, children, and different clinical and forensic populations. The article also outlines how evaluators conducting RCCEs must comply with the ethical demands of their discipline or profession, as well as ethical demands unique t...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 7, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Eyewitness identifications of multiple culprits: Disconfirming feedback following one lineup decision impairs identification of another culprit.
Eyewitnesses to multiple-culprit crimes are often asked to try to identify the culprits from different lineups during a police investigation. In 2 experiments (N = 557), we show that disconfirming feedback after an identification attempt for 1 culprit can impair identification performance on a subsequent lineup for a different culprit. In each experiment, witnesses viewed a simulated, 2-culprit crime, followed by 2 police lineups: A culprit-absent lineup for 1 culprit and either a culprit-present or culprit-absent lineup for the second culprit. Following the first lineup, witnesses received disconfirming feedback or no fee...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 3, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Forensic e-mental health: Review, research priorities, and policy directions.
In conclusion, we find that there is ample opportunity for leveraging technology to improve forensic mental health practice, research, and policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law)
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - December 3, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Eyewitness identification: The complex issue of suspect-filler similarity.
We report 2 experiments investigating the impact of 1 source of variation, the number of relatively high versus low similarity match-description fillers, on identification outcomes. Identifications following a retention interval of a few minutes (Experiments 1 and 2) and several weeks (Experiment 2) were examined. Increasing the number of high similarity lineup members within match-description lineups increased choosing (characterized by more filler but fewer suspect identifications), decreased accuracy and confidence and caused a poorer confidence-accuracy relationship. The changes to identification outcomes as the number...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - November 30, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
What are judges’ views of risk assessments, and how do tools affect adolescent dispositions?
This study uses a self-report questionnaire to examine judges’ opinions about risk assessment tools, as well as an experimental vignette design to evaluate whether judges’ placement and program recommendations for a high- and low-risk adolescent are affected by the presence of an empirically supported tool and accompanying risk rating. It also assesses the influence of tool presence on judges’ impressions of the adolescent’s treatability and culpability. Participants included 170 judges from 34 American states and 2 Canadian provinces. The most common advantage of tools highlighted by judges was the additional info...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - November 30, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
The PCL–R and capital sentencing: A commentary on “Death is different” DeMatteo et al. (2020a).
DeMatteo et al. (2020b) published a Statement in this journal declaring that the Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL–R) “cannot and should not [emphasis added]” (p. 134) be used in U.S. capital-sentencing cases to assess risk for serious institutional violence. Their stated concerns were the “imperfect interrater reliability” (p. 137), the “variability in their predictive validity” (p. 137), and the prejudicial effects of PCL-R ratings on the defendant. In a Cautionary Note, we (Olver et al., 2020) raised questions about the Statement’s evaluation of the PCL–R’s psychometric properties; presented new d...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - November 23, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Death is different: Reply to Olver et al. (2020).
In our “Statement of Concerned Experts on the Use of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised [PCL-R] in Capital Sentencing to Assess Risk for Institutional Violence,” DeMatteo et al. (2020) summarized the relevant empirical research and concluded that the PCL-R cannot and should not be used to make predictions that an individual will engage in serious institutional violence with any reasonable degree of precision or accuracy in the context of capital sentencing decisions. In a solicited commentary, Olver et al. (2020) raised several concerns about our statement and presented new analyses of the research literature. In t...
Source: Psychology, Public Policy, and Law - November 23, 2020 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
